Always a Marauder
by samlover14
Summary: Set to be in line with the books, this marauder's era fic tells the tale of James courting Lily Evans, of the end of Lily and Snape's friendship, of Lupin's road to feeling better about himself, of Peter's betrayal... Pretty much everything. James/Lily.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: All right! This is my first bit of Harry Potter fanfiction ever. So, be nice, okay?  
>The first bit here is right out of Deathly Hallows, just to let you know where we are in the story.<br>This is ... I don't know where it's going yet, but it's supposed to keep in line with the books, so nothing too out of the ordinary.  
>Marauder's Era. x3<strong>

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry."<p>

"I'm not interested."

"I'm sorry!"

"Save your breath."

It was nighttime. Lily, who was wearing a dressing gown, stood with her arms folded in front of the portrait on the Fat Lady, at the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.

"I only came out because Mary told me you were threatening to sleep here."

"I was. I would have done. I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just–"

"Slipped out?" There was no pity in Lily's voice. "It's too late. I've made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater friends — you see, you don't even deny it! You don't even deny that's what you're all aiming to be! You can't wait to join You-Know-Who, can you?"

He opened his mouth, but closed it without speaking.

"I can't pretend anymore. You've chosen your way, I've chosen mine."

"No – listen, I didn't mean–"

"–to call me Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mublood, Severus. Why should I be any different?"

He struggled on the verge of speech, but with a contemptuous look she turned and climbed back through the portrait hole…

* * *

><p>Snape sighed and leaned against the wall. The Fat Lady gave him a rather stern look.<p>

* * *

><p>Lily sighed in contempt and stormed across the common room to her friends. James watched her as she passed the group of marauders sitting on the couches nearest the fireplace, although no fire was in the grate – it was too warm for that.<p>

"Never going to happen," Remus said under his breath from behind his Transfiguration textbook. James gave him a rather stern look, and instinctively rumpled up his hair even more than it already was, as the snitch he'd been playing with earlier zoomed around the room.

"Right," James said, still trying to throw away the issue, although his attempts to appear as if he didn't care in the slightest were almost completely transparent.

"Look, Prongs," Sirius said, "if you want to get the girl, you have to play it cool."

"I'm cool," James said, rumpling up his hair even further.

"Apparently not," Remus said, still hidden in his Transfiguration textbook, although he'd been on the same page for the previous twenty minutes.

"Not helpful, Moony," Sirius shot at him.

"Right, and you were?" Remus said, finally pulling his book down from in front of his face. Sirius and James both turned to look at him.

"Have you got a better idea?" Sirius asked.

"Well, for starters, I'd start listening to what she says to you, on those rare occasions when she blesses you with her speech," Remus said, before putting his nose back into his book, and Sirius and James could both see that the book had been upside down the entire time.

"She says you look like an idiot when you mess up your hair, and that you're stuck up," Peter said, anxiously. Sirius silenced him with a hand gesture.

"I'd add stop hexing people in the corridors to that list," Remus said, still intent on his upside-down book. "And if you were looking for something to do, you could try studying for Transfiguration."

"Transfiguration is the last thing we need to study for," James said. "If you hadn't noticed, Padfoot and I are the top students in McGonagall's class."

"Yeah, I'd say James and I know a thing or two about Transfiguration," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. Remus did not respond to this, but simply closed his book, stood up, and headed up to their dormitory.

"He'll be back. It's too early to go to bed," James said, impatiently, catching his Snitch as it flew passed him.

But Remus did not return downstairs that night. As the evening pressed on, Peter went to bed as well. James took to doodling Lily's initials on some scrap parchment.

"You've got it bad, my friend," Sirius said to him, finally, when they were the last two in the common room. "I hate to admit it, but Moony's probably right." James shrugged him off. "Prongs, mate, get on the level with me here. I've never seen you like this. What is the matter?"

"It's nothing," James said, crumpling up the parchment and throwing it with the accuracy of a chaser into the grate, where a small fire was burning.

"Nothing wouldn't have you this hung up," Sirius said, fairly.

"Why should old Slimy get her? He's such a… such a–"

"Weinerjacket?" Sirius supplied.

"Yes!" James exclaimed, relieved that someone else understood.

"She doesn't seem too pleased with him either," Sirius pointed out. "Next year could be your year."

"Maybe," James said. "Or she and Slimy could make up over the summer. What are you doing this summer?"

"Probably the same as ever?" Sirius said. "Maybe sneak over to Moony's at the full."

"We should do that. He needs us. We should always do that."

"Always?" Sirius said, turning his nose up at the thought.

"One night a month for the rest of your life."

"True."

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><p><strong>AN: Leave me a review please? I'd love you forever.**

**Love,  
>Samantha  samlover14 / LilyLuna**


	2. Chapter 2

James forced himself to forget about Lily over the next week until the end of term. However, his mind thought of nothing but her as they boarded the train. Lily had given Snape the brushoff, and entered a compartment filled with a bunch of her giggling friends. She couldn't stand their giggling any longer, though, and left them to go to the prefect's compartment halfway through the ride. She ran headlong into Remus Lupin, who was just exiting. Lupin mumbled an apology, picked up Lily's book and handed it to her. Lily realized who she'd run into and scoffed. She snatched her book back and made to enter the prefect's carriage.

"Wait," Remus said to her. She paused and looked at him. "He– I'm sorry." Lily scoffed again and made to enter the carriage again, but Lupin caught her arm. "Let me explain, please."

"Oh, all right," Lily said. She allowed Remus to bring her to an empty compartment – not easy to find this late into the ride. "Talk," Lily said.

"I should have stopped them," Lupin said. "I'm a prefect. They have to listen to me."

"I'm a prefect too, and you don't see them listening to me," Lily said.

"They would listen to me, though, if I had the courage to speak up. James shows off because he thinks it will impress you."

"It won't," Lily said, coldly, folding her arms and staring out the window and the countryside. "I'm never going to go out with him. I'd rather date the barkeeper at the Leaky Cauldron than either of those bullies."

"What about Snape?" Remus asked, watching her intently. She jerked involuntarily, but her face betrayed no emotion.

"I wouldn't date a death eater if my life depended on it," Lily said. Remus looked at her closely, and it looked as though her eyes had welled up. She reached up and brushed the tears away.

"Are you really going to throw away a friendship because–" Remus began.

"Never mind why I'm throwing away a friendship," Lily said, angrily, turning to look at him, and unable to keep the tears from flowing. "You and I aren't friends anyhow. Why should I tell you?" She took her leave from the compartment, throwing her dark red hair over her shoulder as she went. Remus sighed, and left the compartment as well, heading for the compartment down the train where James and Sirius were. When James saw who had entered his carriage, he rolled his eyes, got up, and left.

"What's with him?" Remus asked. Sirius shrugged.

"I don't know," Peter said, ready as ever to be of service to the other Marauders. "I'll go look." He left. Sirius stared at Remus, as if waiting for an explanation.

"What?" Remus asked, finally noticing Sirius staring at him.

"Don't you give me that 'what'," Sirius said, indignantly. "What is the matter with you?"

"Besides the prospect of not getting somewhere safe before the moon comes out?" Remus shot back dryly. "Nothing at all."

"It'll be fine," Sirius said, but Remus was still worried.

"I knew I should have stayed the extra night. Hogwarts is much safer," Remus said, running his hand through his hair, frustrated.

"You're always safe with me, Moony," Sirius said, switching seats to sit beside him, as a comforting gesture.

"Until I mess up, and you end up just like me. Or worse," Remus said, shifting away from Sirius slightly.

"You're only as dangerous as you think you are," Sirius said. "This heart is where you truly live. This heart." Sirius poked Remus squarely in the chest. Twice. Remus let out a low growl for effect. Sirius's hand didn't recoil. He simply tapped Remus's heart again, then Remus's nose, and smiled brightly, evidently thinking he was quite clever.

"I couldn't stand it if I hurt you," Remus said. "Any of you. Anyone at all. I don't like – I don't want to be a–"

"You're not," Sirius said. "You're a 16 year old kid. You're a damn good friend. But let's face it, you suck as a Prefect."

"I do not," Remus mumbled.

"Which is fine!" Sirius continued. "Prefects are overrated. And let's face it. That damn Evans could handle every Gryff in the school singlehandedly. She's feisty. Like FIRE! With that red hair…"

"Were you going somewhere with this conversation?" Remus asked, frowning at his best friend.

"You know, you'd think I would, wouldn't you?" Sirius said.

"There's not going to be enough time," Remus began worrying again.

"Would I ever let your hurt anyone?" Sirius asked. Remus didn't answer, but when he finally looked back to where Sirius had been, a very happy dog sat there. Remus smiled in spite of himself, and scratched Sirius behind the ears.

"I thought it was cats that purred," Remus remarked at the sounds Sirius made. Sirius licked Remus's face in reply and tried to give him a hug – not so easy as a dog, and next second Remus was being hugged by his best friend. "I don't know how I could do this without you." He paused for a moment. "You and James."

"And that's why we're here for you. Forever. And always," Sirius said.

* * *

><p>When they got to the station, it was beginning to get dark. Remus's face was very pale.<p>

"Never mind your luggage, I'll get it. Just go," Sirius said. "James and I will be there as soon as we can." Remus took off running. He didn't pause to look as he ran across streets, to the Leaky Cauldron, some distance away. He didn't even stop to thank Tom the barkeeper as he grabbed some Floo Powder and was swept off to his own home. He bid his mother a hurried hello, before running out the back door and sprinting into the woods. His mother just sat in her rocking chair, knitting a baby blanket for her friend, who was expecting a child. Some 45 minutes later, but not at all to her surprise, a trunk emblazoned with R. J. Lupin popped out of the fire. She was surprised, however, when Sirius Black appeared in the grate, not even pausing to brush the ashes off himself before sprinting for the woods out back. Mrs. Lupin was concerned for the safety of her son's friend, as she heard the werewolf's howl to the moon, until she heard the sound of barking accompanying it. She surmised this must be one of her son's animagus friends. She say back in her rocking chair and smiled, happy that her son had friends at last.

**A/N: Leave me a review? :D **

**Love, Samantha / samlover14 / Lily Luna**


	3. Chapter 3

Mrs. Lupin usually stayed up all night on the full moon when her son was home, but she accidentally fell asleep, knitting needles in her hands, right there in her rocking chair. She awoke with a start around dawn, when two laughing boys came through the back door.

"Good morning, Mrs. Lupin," Sirius called. "Sorry about last night, I probably scared you."

"It's all right, dear," Mrs. Lupin said, making to get up and start breakfast.

"Mum, get some sleep, I'll make breakfast," Remus said. Mrs. Lupin reluctantly sat back down.

"I could get used to that," Sirius said, stretching out on the sofa. "I'll have a cheese omelet with a big side of bacon."

"Get up," Remus said, frowning at him. "You're helping." Sirius sighed and stood up, allowing Remus to pull him into the kitchen. "I thought James was supposed to come."

"I thought he was," Sirius replied, shortly. "He knew it was tonight. He was supposed to be here."

"We didn't see him the whole second half of the train. Maybe he fell off," Remus said. Sirius's face betrayed the slightest shadow of a smile before…

"No. He's our best friend, and he should have been here. There's no excuse." The two teens bickered over it for a while, but after breakfast Sirius made up his mind. He bid Mrs. Lupin goodbye, before throwing the green powder into the fire and shouting "The Potters!"

Mrs. Potter was making breakfast for her husband and son when Sirius appeared in the grate and dusted himself off. She turned to see who it was, and without asking, immediately added another serving to her recipe.

"Good Morning, Mrs. Potter," Sirius said. "Is James awake yet?"

"I think so, I heard Charles yelling at him to get up and help him out in the garden about 20 minutes ago," Mrs. Potter replied.

"Thanks," Sirius said, before exiting the kitchen into the maze of rooms, to find James. He finally found him out in the back garden, evidently de-gnoming it. When James looked up and saw Sirius, he brightened, until he saw the expression on his best friend's face.

"Who died?" James asked, very seriously.

"Well, for all we knew, you very well might have," Sirius said, slapping his best friend across the arm, several times. "Where the bloody hell were you last night?" James folded his arms, and turned away from Sirius. "What?"

"I'm not speaking to him," James said.

"Not speaking to…?"

"Moony," James clarified.

"I see. And why not?" Sirius asked, trying to contain his anger.

"I saw him on the train," James said. "And he was flirting with Lily." Sirius cocked an eyebrow at him, as though he didn't think this at all an appropriate reason to skive out on a date with his best friends, but James didn't say anything more, just went back to degnoming the considerable garden.

"So you think," said Sirius, his voice shaking in anger, "that because your best friend was talking to some girl who, by the way, considers you the last person on earth she would ever date, you shouldn't support him at the full moon?"

"Er…" James hesitated. He hadn't thought of it quite like that.

"And while you're in that little brain fart, why don't you think on this: Moony and Evans are prefects together. Think of all the other times they've had to talk to each other. If he wanted to be dating her, I'm pretty sure he would be," Sirius said, before storming back inside.

After an apology to Mrs. Potter that he couldn't stay for breakfast, he left the Potters, and began walking to his own house – Number 12, Grimmauld Place. It was quite a walk, but he wanted the time to think. Absently, he changed into his dog form, to make the walk a bit lighter. Before he knew it, someone came running into him, knocking him over. He rolled to his feet and growled, before realizing that the someone was James. He growled again, as there was a Muggle passing by, and he couldn't change back to a human.

"I don't think he wants to date her," James heaved, out of breath, "because I know you're my friends and you wouldn't do that. It made me jealous, and I'm sorry. I'll go and apologize to him right now." Sirius barked happily and wagged his tail.


	4. Chapter 4

Halfway through July, Sirius ran out of his parents' house. He couldn't stand them and their Slytherin pureblood idiocies any longer. Regulus was only thirteen, and they were already talking about how he'd be the perfect Death Eater – it made him sick. He packed everything he had (which wasn't much) and left. He didn't know where he was going to go. His first thought was the Potters, but he didn't want to impose. His next thought was his favorite cousin – Andromeda – but she had a baby now, and he wouldn't want to impose on her either. He walked for a while, not really knowing where he was headed. Before long, he found himself walking up the front steps at the Potters and ringing the bell. James opened to door, vaguely surprised to see him there.

"I left," Sirius panted. He had not realized he had been running. "I left and I'm not going back." James opened the door properly so Sirius could enter.

"Mum! Dad! Sirius is here!" James called, running down the hall to where his parents were in one of the parlors.

"Good," Sirius heard Mr. Potter announce. "He can listen to you blabber on about Lily."

"Dad! Shh!" James exclaimed.

"I already know," Sirius said, finally entering the parlor, rolling his eyes. "Before you leave Mr. Potter, and Mrs. Potter, um… I ran away from my pureblood Death Eater family. Can I stay here until we go back to school?"

"Of course you can," Mrs. Potter said. "Haven't we always said you were welcome here?"

"Thanks," Sirius said. He jumped onto one of the many sofas and stretched out. "So tell me about this girl."

The July full moon was quite a lot of fun. James and Sirius invited Remus over to the Potters, so they could explore the sizable woods behind the house. Remus reluctantly agreed, and even Peter joined them. The beginning of August, a large owl arrived for Sirius – an invitation to Andromeda's daughter's birthday party. He immediately agreed to go – Drom was his favorite cousin and none of his other hideous relatives would be there. However, in order to save teenage face, and not to look too eager to go to a toddler's birthday party, he dragged James and Remus with him. Peter was on vacation with his family in France. Suckers. Peter was a git anyway, in Sirius's opinion. Andromeda and her Muggle-born husband, Ted Tonks, didn't live too far off, but Mr. Potter loaned them his car anyway.

"Next year we'll be 17, and we'll be able to do magic and Apparate," James observed as he drove them out into the country. "No more of this walking and driving nonsense."

About an hour into the party, Sirius realized that a toddler's birthday party was probably the most boring place on earth, except perhaps a library. Andromeda had left the three teenagers in charge of little Nymphadora, who, even at age 3, despised her name, and wanted to be called "Tonks". Sirius stood up shortly after.

"Well, we need to find the Firewhiskey. I'm sure she has some around," he said. "Come along, men."

"I'm good, thanks," Remus said. "I shouldn't drink in the week before the… I'll just watch Nymphadora."

"DON'T call me Nymphadora!" Tonks said, very angrily.

"Tonks. Tonks, sorry," Remus said to the obstinate three year old. Sirius mimed a whip, and he and James left to find Andromeda's liquor stash. Remus surveyed the girl. "And now what do I do?" he asked no one. Tonks, her hair as bright pink as ever, toddled away from him, but before he could run after her, she returned with her father's guitar. "Thanks," Remus said. He assumed this meant she wanted him to sing to her. He began to tune the guitar, and sing a few songs to her. Lullabys, Christmas carols, "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles, and "Our Last Summer" by ABBA.

"Hey Moony," James said, wandering back in, his speech slurring. "Drom's husband keeps some Muggle alcohol back there. That stuff is strong." He saw the guitar. "Hey, a guitar! Cool!" He snatched the guitar from Remus and began to strum it. Sirius sat down next to Remus and Tonks.

"This is going to be a good show," he said quietly to Remus.

"I wrote this song," James announced. "And, it's about this girl I like. Okay, here goes." He cleared his throat and began to strum a tune. "She's tall and fun and pretty, she's really, really skinny, LILY! I'm the Mickey to her Minnie, the Tigger to my Winnie, LILY! Wanna take her to the city, wanna take her out to dinny… LILY! She's cuter than a guinea pig…. I wanna take her up to Winnipeg – THAT'S IN CANADA! …"

"Okay," Remus said, taking the guitar back. "I think that's quite enough singing for you." James pouted for a second, but then brightened.

"You know, that's a good idea," he said to Remus, as if Remus had given him some inspiration. "I'm going to tell her how I feel. See you." He took off, in the direction of the front door. Sirius and Remus exchanged looks before following him to the door. James left the house out the front door, walked by the car, down the driveway, and onto the road before pausing. It seemed he didn't know which direction he wanted to go. Sirius ran down to him, before he got run over by a passing car. Remus made to follow, but something tugged on his pantleg. It was Nympha- Tonks, he corrected himself in his head.

"Yes?" Remus asked her.

"Can you sing me more songs, please?" Tonks asked, pouting a little. She was too cute to resist. He took her back into the living area, and sang her some more ABBA songs.

"Why are you singing her ABBA songs?" Sirius asked, a while later when he showed up again.

"We're kicking it to ABBA," Tonks informed him. Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Alright then. James and I are gonna take off," Sirius told Remus. "You can use the Floo to get anywhere you want to go whenever you're ready to leave." Remus nodded his understanding to this, and kept playing the guitar.


	5. Chapter 5

"The thing about it is," Sirius was saying as they walked through King's Cross Station, "you were already running the team when you _weren't_ Captain. It's not like anything's going to be different." He rolled his eyes at his best friend.

"But it's so much responsibility, managing practices and tryouts and ladidadida," James said, sticking out his tongue in annoyance. "And all those kids who think they can fly." He snorted. "At least I can get into the Prefect's bathroom now."

"And what business do you have in the Prefect's bathroom?" Remus asked, serenely. "Not to watch us take baths, I hope."

"To _take_ a bath," James said. "It's like an ocean in there."

"I'd be careful if I were you," Remus warned, "Moaning Myrtle occasionally turns up just as all your bubbles have gone…" James looked revolted. The three boarded the train – there was plenty of time to spare, but they didn't want to risk not getting priority seating: their own cabin, of course, with no Slytherins or what-have-you to bother them. When Peter arrived some time later (ten minutes or so), he joined them in their carriage.

About halfway through the ride, just when James and Sirius were getting into an extremely high-stakes game of Exploding Snap, a girl with dark red hair and bright green eyes opened the door to their carriage. James's stomach flipped over several times and he merely gawked at her. If it was possible, she'd gotten even more beautiful over the summer. She raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him, as his free hand jumped to mess up his hair properly, then turned her attention to Remus.

"The prefects are all meeting up front," she said to him.

"Oh, right," Remus said, standing at once to follow her down the train. James stared after him.

"He has no idea how lucky he is," James said, wistfully. "What I wouldn't give to be a prefect..." Sirius put his hand to James's forehead in alarm. "What?"

"Just checking to see if you've got a fever," Sirius said, "because you're obviously mental. Why would _anyone_ want to be a prefect?"

"I'd kind of like to be a prefect," Peter said. "Having control over the other students…" He looked out the window, wistfully.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," Sirius said, folding his arms and glaring out the window.

Remus followed Lily down the train, and into a compartment occupied only by Mary Macdonald, who, after a nod from Lily, evacuated it. They were now alone.

"Well this certainly isn't a prefect meeting," Remus observed.

"I was wondering why you'd even bought that," Lily said. "But no. That's not why I pulled you down here."

"And the reason for that being…?" Remus prompted. Lily looked at the floor and blushed slightly as if embarrassed about what she was going to say.

"I thought about what you said all summer… and I was wondering if you wanted to… er …go on a date with me," Lily said. Remus simply stared at her. "Don't leave me hanging here…"

"I don't think I…" Remus said, very flustered.

"Date. Me," Lily said, slightly annoyed she had to explain herself.

"Of course I want to, but–" Remus began.

"But what?" Lily asked.

"James would murder me, for one thing, and that's not really even in the top five reasons."

"And what are the top five reasons?" Lily asked suspiciously.

"Er…well… 5. We're prefects together and I don't think that's such a good idea. 4. I'm pretty sure you're only asking to make James jealous, and that's wrong. 3. I don't even know what to do on a date, or where to go… I haven't… I mean… 2. There is an extremely high number of men who want to be asked that question, and I don't fancy being hexed every place I go…. And…" His voice dropped off, but Lily seemed to be highly anticipating the number one reason she was being turned down, so he plowed on in an undertone. Lily was nice enough … and if she didn't know already, Remus would be very surprised. "And number one, I'm a werewolf." Silence followed this speech. Lily surveyed him carefully.

"Well," Lily began coolly, "I can't say I didn't suspect you were… As for James and my other admirers… I don't care for them… and I think you could take them if you had to. All kinds of prefects date each other. I believe the date asker picks the date venue, so you don't have to worry about that, and as for making James crazy with jealousy… Well, I can't say that's not an added bonus…"

"That's not your intention?" Remus asked. Lily shook her head. "I'd love to say yes, but I can't." Lily didn't seem to like this answer very much.

"Why not?" she all but shouted.

"He's my best friend, Lils," Remus said, sadly. "The code of the Brethren."

"The Bro Code?" Lily asked. "You're turning me down because of a stupid set of unwritten man rules?"

"Y-yes?" Remus guessed. "I think that's what I'm doing… Lily, I would. Look at me… you know I would if I could. I will never in my life be as fortunate as this – to have a beautiful girl in front of me; because of my condition, I will undoubtedly endure years as a social outcast. I can say I've never wanted anything like I want to say yes. But I can't. So it's no. And I'm sorry," he finished softly. "I'll see you later." He rose and left the compartment. After he was seated back among his bros, he began to think he should have said yes. Sirius was sitting next to the window on one side, arms crossed, glaring at or through the glass as if it had done him a personal disservice. James was next to him, strumming something on his new guitar that sounded like the song he'd written about Lily – which Remus suspected was the only song he knew. Across from Sirius, also next to the window, Peter was staring out at the countryside wistfully, as if wishing he were somewhere or some_one _else.


	6. Chapter 6

It was a week later before Lily calmed down enough to speak to Remus again, but she never did ask him out again. It was the morning after the September full moon. James was in the hospital wing, having managed to get himself seriously injured. Sirius couldn't stop laughing about it – no injuries in an entire night running around with a werewolf, then he saw Lily as they were entering the Common Room after breakfast, tripped over the portrait hole, and managed to break several bones.

Remus was studying under a tree down by the lake when Lily turned up.

"Please don't yell at me some more," Remus said, after looking up to see it was her.

"No," Lily said. "I, uh, wanted to proposition you." Remus looked skeptical, probably to do with the ambiguous meaning of the word "proposition". "A business venture," Lily clarified.

"What sort of business?" Remus asked.

"Study buddies?" she asked, hopefully. Remus surveyed her, then looked around as if looking for the hidden camera.

"Sure," he agreed. Lily sat down with him.

"Excellent! What are you studying?" she asked.

"Transfiguration," Remus said.

"I would have thought you were pretty good at Transfiguration," Lily said.

"Of course," Remus said. "It's Potions I'm lousy at."

"You are in luck," Lily said. "Your new study buddy is the top of our class in Potions."

"I'm pretty sure Snape is the top of our class in Potions," Remus corrected her.

"But who'd want to study with him?" Lily replied.

"I think…. I think _you_ do," Remus said, surveying her face. "You miss him, don't you?" Lily bit back her tears and shook her head. "Lily…."

"No," Lily said. "Don't even think it. I cut the cord, I'm done. I – I…" She hesitated a moment. "I want to join the Order of the Phoenix."

"The Order of the - Sweet Merlin, keep your voice down," Remus said, anxiously. "You'll have a hit on you faster than you can say Voldemort. Especially with your being so close to… What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking if there's a war, then I want to fight," Lily said. "Don't pretend that's not what you four are planning on doing after Hogwarts. We turn 17 in just a few months. We can help."

"We still have two years of school," Remus reminded her. "Are you feeling quite alright?"

"I just want to make a difference," Lily replied. "I don't need to be the best or the bravest as long as I counted for something."

"You'll always be important to me," Remus said. "Heck, if it weren't for you, my life wouldn't be interesting at all."

"How so?" Lily asked, confused.

"Didn't you see James trip over himself this morning?" Remus laughed. "Probably topped the list on best things to ever happen at the full."

"Probably topped the list of stupid things Potter's ever done," Lily said, laughing as well. "Who trips over their own feet and breaks twelve bones? Silly boy." Remus could see her face get a little brighter, now the subject had changed from Snape to James.

"You do like him, though, don't you?" he asked. Lily frowned slightly.

"Like who?"

"James," Remus replied. "Don't try and deny it. I can see that you do."

"I do _not_," Lily insisted. "Can we just change the subject, please?"

"What is it that you need help with?" Remus asked.

"Well," Lily looked embarrassed, "you know in Defense Against the Dark Arts? We're learning the Patronus…."

"You can't do it?" Remus asked, interestedly.

"Oh, of course I can do it," Lily said. She barely whispered 'Expecto Patronum' and the silver animal shone in the daylight. It looked almost like a horse – no. It was a doe. A silver doe. "I've been able to do it for years." Her doe vanished, most likely because Lily was no longer thinking of happy thoughts – in fact, It looked like she was about to cry. "I just wanted to know something. I read that your Patronus is supposed to change to reflect your true love or some bollocks like that." Remus tried hard not to laugh, as he now knew something she didn't. "But mine and S-S-Sev's –" She was crying now. "–used to match and-and-and I thought mine would change…"

This was not exactly what Remus had been expecting. Lily's Patronus had been the doe for years… James was her stag, of course. But Snape's had been a doe as well?

"He was in love with you," Remus mused.

"What?" Lily asked, slightly distraught.

"Snape. He was in love with you," Remus repeated. "But you never thought of him like that. You – pardon my language – belong to another…. Always have."

"What? I don't–" Lily said.

"Your Patronus has always been a doe, you say," Remus said. Lily nodded. "And so has Snape's." Lily nodded again. "Always."

"Always," Lily confirmed.

"Thing about a doe," Remus mused, "is, the doe doesn't look for another doe. It wants a stag. You know, antlers." Remus made antlers on his head with his hands.

"Oh," Lily said. "My stag, you say. You think he's out there?"

"I know he is," Remus said.

"That makes me feel better, I guess," Lily said, her tears drying up. "Thanks."

"Except…" Remus interjected. Lily looked at him, her green eyes had never looked so penetrating. "…I know who your stag is. But you're not going to like it."

"Please say anyone but James," Lily begged.

"It's James," Remus said. Lily made a sound of disgust. "You already have the feelings for him. Stop denying them."

"I'm not denying anything," Lily said, "except things that aren't true. James is _not_ my true love." She got up and stormed away.

On her way back into the castle, Lily ran passed James, now fully healed, and Sirius, still laughing, coming down the lawn. When the pair reached Remus, now fully engulfed in this Transfiguration book again, they sat down under his tree as well.

"Mental, that one, I'm telling you," Sirius said, jerking his thumb toward James. "He broke twelve bones for the chick and even that didn't snap him out of it." Remus decided it wasn't worth his life to tell James what he'd learned that morning.

"She was crying though," James said. "I bet it was that darn Snivelly."

"Moony's the only one out here," Sirius pointed out.

"Did you see who she was with?" James demanded of Remus, who shook his head, still reading. "I'll get that-that-that … That floppy wanded dementor boggerer!" Sirius and Remus gasped.

"Prongs, what is the matter with you? You know that's forbidden at Hogwarts," Sirius said, suddenly very serious.

"We do a lot of things that are forbidden," James said.

"You can't use Wizard Swears in front of a prefect! He has to turn you in now," Sirius said. "And you'll get about a week of detention. And it's Quidditch!"

"Unless…" Remus said. "There's no one else around. I'll pretend I heard him say…. 'Butt Trumpet'."

"Butt Trumpet! Oh, that's a good one," James said. "Even I want to say that. Snivelly is such a Butt Trumpet!"


	7. Chapter 7

It was three days later (including a very embarrassing-for-Snape run-in to do with butt trumpets, and a butt trumpeting hex Sirius had found) when Lily snuck up on Remus in the library, violently slamming her books down on his table and earning herself a glare from Madame Pince, the librarian.

"I had nothing to do with it," Remus said, quietly and calmly.

"Nonethless," Lily said, "you should put a stop to it. And I need help."

"With what?"

"Life," Lily sighed. "But this essay mostly." She handed him the roll of parchment she'd already finished for Charms class. Remus read through it, while Lily peered through the essay Remus had been writing for Potions.

"This is really good, Lils," Remus said.

"Your Potions essay really is not," Lily replied, pulling a pen (YES A PEN.) out of her pocket and beginning to scribble on his hard work.

"I told you, I'm dreadful at Potions. I don't even know how I managed to get into NEWT level."

"Professor Slughorn is pretty liberal with his students," Lily replied.

From the entrance to the library, James and Sirius watched their interactions.

"I'm sure it's harmless," Sirius tried to convince James. "They look like they're studying."

"Yeah," James said, trying to stay calm. "Yeah."


	8. Chapter 8

A few nights later in the common room…

"Remus," said a girl's voice from behind him. He jumped and looked around. Lily, of course. "Come on." Sighing, Remus got up and followed her out of the Portrait hole.

"Now what was that about?" James said, suspiciously.

"A prefect thing, most likely," Peter said. "Their turn to patrol the corridors." James scowled.

"I'm going after them," he decided, standing up and heading to the dormitory to get his invisibility cloak. Sirius started after him, but by the time he caught up, James was invisible.

"James is very suspicious of us," Remus whispered to Lily, as they walked down a corridor on the third floor.

"Do you blame him?" Lily replied, not bothering to keep her voice down.

"Not at all." They turned down a concealed passageway covered by a tapestry and up a staircase. "Here it is," Remus said, turning right and running directly into a large mirror.

"That's a mirror," Lily said, skeptically. Remus tapped it three times, muttered something, and the glass vanished, replaced by a passageway. "Ooooh."

"And you thought only James and Sirius were troublemakers," Remus scoffed, as they moved down the passageway, which led down several flights of stairs before leveling off and continuing straight for quite a while.

"Where are we headed?" Lily asked.

"You'll see," Remus said. A short while later, they ran into a dead end – or so Lily thought until Remus shone his wandlight up at the ceiling where there appeared to be a magical trapdoor. Remus pushed it open and hopped out, then he reached down and helped his companion out as well. After replacing the trap door, Remus turned to Lily. "What do you think?"

"I think we're going to be in so much trouble if we get caught," Lily said. They were standing on the bank of the river that ran across the outskirts of Hogsmeade. The crisp fall air was nice, compared to the stuffiness of the castle.

"Sometimes it's good to get away from being the good one." He put his arm around her shoulders and they walked down the bank of the river, taking in the last of the autumn sunset. On the breeze they could just hear the sound of bagpipes being played from quite a distance – maybe from a Muggle town not far off, or from Hogsmeade itself.

They walked a ways and finally Remus conjured a red and white checkered picnic blanket out of nowhere and the pair sat down on it.

"The stars are beautiful," Lily said.

"I was never much of an astronomer, but yes, they are," Remus agreed. The light of the moon bouncing off the rived danced around the grass.

"I can see where you wouldn't be a very big fan of the stars… Or the moon," Lily said.

"Doesn't matter," Remus said, shrugging. "The other 30 nights a month are beautiful, even if it does control me." Lily didn't quite know what to say to this, so she stayed quiet. When it was time to go home, and they were walking back down the river, she picked a flower from the grass, and turned it from its wilting state to blooming once more. She handed it to Remus with a smile. Remus smiled as well and said, "Let's go home."

It was a lily.


	9. Chapter 9

Remus and Lily's trip to Hogsmeade ended with Sirius in never-ended fits of laughter, a very red-faced Remus, and an extremely ashamed James. After running around the castle for an hour under his invisibility cloak and not finding them, James returned to the common room, where Sirius was sitting next to the fire, Marauder's Map in his lap, watching the small dot labeled "James Potter" climb through the portrait hole, laughing his head off.

"Right, well," James said a few weeks later. Remus and Lily continued to study together, and James remained only vaguely suspicious, having been given an explanation. "I'm just going to have to ask her to marry me." Sirius and Remus exchanged looks.

"Might be delusional," Sirius muttered to Remus.

"Quite," Remus replied.

"After you've been seeing each other for as long as Lily and I have, it's just fitting to propose," James explained. However, this just made Sirius and Remus even more confused.

"Are we talking about the same girl?" Sirius asked. "Lily can't stand you."

"Don't be ridiculous. She wants me," James said, messing up his hair even more than it already was, as he did every minute or two whenever he knew Lily was in the same room. He looked over to the table where Lily was sitting with some of the girls in their year. "Yeah, she does." He grinned at her. She rolled her eyes and returned her eyes to her Transfiguration essay. "Who's with me? Say I!"

"I!" Peter exclaimed immediately.

"I…" Remus said, reluctantly.

"I think you're insane," Sirius said. James frowned at him.

"From the first moment I saw you, I fell right in love. Lovely Lily, you're the one for me," James orated. "What do you guys think?" Peter clapped enthusiastically. Remus grunted, engrossed in 'Advanced Potion Making'.

"I think you're nuts," Sirius repeated for probably the 9000th time in the preceding week that James had been planning this proposal. James ignored him.

"I'll propose this afternoon, and by nightfall we shall be wed! In Hogsmeade, of course. Small ceremony, close friends and family only. For flowers, I think lilies would be appropriate, and I was thinking a light shade of lavender, but with autumn, maybe a gold would be better. It'll be outside, of course, but I don't know I haven't really thought about it," James said, shrugging.

"I think he's actually lost it," Sirius muttered to Remus, who nodded, not actually reading his book. "Your book is upside down," Sirius added. Remus corrected the book and continued to stare around it at where Lily was sitting, all alone under a tree, reading, across the grounds. "If you want her that badly, I'm sure she'd agree…" Sirius continued in an undertone to Remus. Remus ignored him.

James addressed the small crowd. "I'd like to thank you all for coming to my engagement party. But first I better go over there and propose to her." The crowd laughed, perhaps at the joke, or James's insanity, or even both.

James strode confidently over to Lily where she sat under the tree on the bank of the Black Lake.

"Lily, I need to ask you something," James declared. Lily closed her book and turned her attention to James, a rather bemused expression on her face. "Lily, this is the day your dreams come true."

"Oh, is it?" Lily said, vaguely surprised.

"Just imagine it. Fire in the corner, Treacle Tart in the oven. My little wife, massaging my feet, while Elvendork plays on the floor with the dogs," James painted the picture for her.

"Elvendork?" Lily asked.

"Our lovely daughter," James explained. He grinned and messed up his hair.

"Imagine that," Lily said, trying to contain her laughter. James didn't notice the sarcasm dripping from her voice, either.

"So, what'll it be, Lils? Is it yes or Ohhhh yes!" James asked, extending his hand to her. She took it and he pulled her to her feet.

"I just… I just don't deserve you!" Lily said. James scoffed.

"Well, who does?" he said, messing up his hair even more. Lily gave him a small push and he fell over the edge and into the lake.

"But thanks for asking," Lily called, as she picked up her book from the grass and headed back to the castle.

"Reading between the lines, mate," Sirius said, as James climbed out of the lake, his robes soaking wet, "I'd say perhaps she thinks you were a little forward."

That night in their dormitory, the other three tried to give James advice.

"You have douchebag hair," Sirius said.

"I love my hair! My dad had this hair!" James protested.

"And when it came time for him to settle down, he got a haircut," Sirius said. "If I ever felt like settling down, I'd get one too."

"Right because we all know Marlene never wants to settle down and get married," Remus said.

"Um, shut up?" Sirius said. "I am 17 years old. Do I have to settle down right now? No. Shut up." Sirius and Marlene had been fairly steady since 4th year, besides a few nights that the Marauders had sworn each other not to tell her about.

"Might not be another time, mate," Remus said. "There's a war going on."

"Enough about me!" Sirius said. "James has douchebag hair."

"No one's denying that," Remus said, suddenly very interested in the conversation – like he hadn't been interested in his friends since all year. "He needs to be more like Bond. James Bond. Britain's most powerful weapon. Jet-setting heartbreaker on her Majesty's secret service. A man who fears no one with a license to kill."

"Potter. James Potter. Shaken. Not stirred," James said. "Moony's right. Chicks dig Bond."

"But you still have douchebag hair," Remus said. James scowled.

And that's the story of how James got a haircut. In the dormitory. From Sirius. It went badly.

"But!" Sirius exclaimed. "It's not douchebag anymore!"

"I will murder you!" James yelled, jumping on Sirius, wands forgotten. Peter cheered. He wasn't contributing much to the conversation, because he was trying to write an essay for Charms class (how he had passed any OWLs was beyond anyone), and also because the author hates him.

"Enough!" Remus said, as James and Sirius's struggling figures knocked over a spindly table with a water pitcher on it. He caught the pitcher (with magic) before it hit the ground and set it back on the table, now upright again. "You guys are both idiots, firstly," he continued. He waved his wand in a long sweeping motion and the fragments of James's hair that Sirius had chopped off reattached themselves to James's head. "Now then. In order to woo fair maiden, you must act like a gentleman."

"Easy for you to say. You're out with her 6 nights a week," James shot at him.

"And would I be your best friend–"

"Sirius is actually my best friend," James interjected.

"–if I wasn't dropping hints to her about you?" Remus continued as though there had been no interruption.

"The hell are you doing?" Sirius asked Remus, pulling him aside before dinner.

"Walking to dinner," Remus guessed.

"You know what I mean. With James and Lily," Sirius said.

"I thought we wanted them together," Remus shrugged.

"You stop that. I know you want her. I'm not blind."

"Can't have her," Remus said. "She doesn't want me anyway. She just wants to seem unavailable to make James jealous."

"Well, he is," Sirius said. "He's insane. Why don't you just–"

"Her Patronus is a doe," Remus interrupted. Sirius stopped short.

"Oh."

"Yeah," Remus said. "I've got no chance. So don't worry about it."

"I wonder what Marlene's is," Sirius said, worriedly running his fingers through his hair.

"I wouldn't set too much store in that, if I were you," Remus said, clapping his friend on the back.

"In the meantime, though? You and Lily would make a–" Sirius began.

"Right before a Quidditch game, really? Are you serious, Sirius?" Remus interrupted him.

"Uh… I am Sirius, but, yeah, I guess that's probably not the best idea," Sirius said.

"Let's eat."


	10. Chapter 10

Quidditch dawned bright and early, as it always did. James's team was in top form but questionably up to the task of defeating the ferocious Slytherin team. They had had a strong team the year before, and not a thing had changed, if anything they were stronger.

James had made the team in their second year, Sirius had joined in their third. Their fourth year was Timothy Wood's last year. Wood (eventual father of Quidditch great Oliver) had been their Seeker, and they had never lost a match, leading to three Quidditch cups under his reign as Captain. Last year, though, seventh year Keeper Anthony Hughes had become Captain. He was a great Keeper, but not such a great leader. He deferred James to Seeker and replaced his Chaser position to another seventh year. She was pretty, but not such a great chaser. James had tried to rally the other two chasers, good friends of his, but they lost the Quidditch Cup to the ferocious Slytherins.

This year James was determined to make up for their horrendous loss. Reinstated as Head Chaser, his team was flawless. He brought in new talent – a fourth year Keeper and a second year Seeker. Sirius stayed as one of his beaters, with his usual partner, their good friend fifth year Benjy Fenwick. Beater pairs was something hardly ever tinkered with. Although, usually neither were Chasers. James was still bitter about his year as a Seeker.

"Oh, stop your bellyaching," Marlene scolded James, her arm around Sirius's waist as the team walked down to the pitch together. "With you back as Chaser, we've got nothing to worry about."

"Not that you weren't a good Seeker," Emmeline assured him, "but, let's all face it. Rob's better than you were." Emmeline was the only seventh year on the team this year. James shot a glare at her. "And you're much better as a Chaser."

"Does anyone have anything helpful to say?" James asked, sighing in frustration.

"We're gonna kick some Slytherin ass today!" Sirius shouted. The rest of the team gave yells and shouts of agreement.

"I usually don't attend Quidditch games," Lily said to Remus as they walked down to the pitch. "There's nothing I like less than watching a bunch of hotheads flying around throwing balls around."

"Then I'm flattered," Remus said. "I'm surprised, though, I thought you and Marlene were good friends."

"I don't know if I'd say that," Lily replied. "She spends too much time around your friends for me to consider her mine." Remus chuckled.

"I spend a lot of time around my friends," he said. "Am I your friend?"

"Of course you are," Lily said. "You're…. different." Remus laughed again, knowing exactly what she meant by 'different'.

James and his team were in the locker room, changing into their Quidditch robes.

"Today is the first day. The first game of the season. And if we lose today, it might as well be the last game."

"Great pep talk," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

"Shut it," James shot at him. "This is our one chance to redeem ourselves for that awful season last year. This isn't to point fingers or assign blame. We are a team, and we are going to get our butts out there and win this for Tim."

"I think we were better off with mine," Sirius said. As usual, he had no respect for authority, least of all his best friend. "Who's gonna kick some Slytherin ass today?"

"We are!" the rest of the team shouted.

"Who's gonna be the Champions?"

"We are!"

"And who is gonna get the Cup this year?"

"We are!"

"And then James will present it to Professor McGonagall and she won't fail us!" Sirius ended his motivational speech.

"Yeah!"

"All right, let's get out there and get some," James said to his thoroughly pumped up team.

And so they did.

For the afterparty, a spectacular party in the Gryffindor Common Room was tradition. Sirius and James snuck over to Hogsmeade to bring Honeydukes sweets and butterbeer. Rob, the new Seeker, was the hero of the party, of course, having caught the Snitch out from under the nose of Sirius's brother, Regulus, the Slytherin Seeker. It wasn't until James returned from Hogsmeade the second time with a few bottles of Firewhiskey that he saw Remus and Lily sharing a chair by the fire. The lion of jealousy flared within him. Lily was chatting animatedly to Marlene and Mary about the match. Remus simpled looked content. Sirius inserted himself at that point between the two girls on the couch and began snogging Marlene without pretense or foreward. Mary rolled her eyes and got up, wrinkling her nose as she crossed the common room to her other riends. Lily blushed slightly and hid behind her butterbeer. Remus laughed and lightly tossed a bit of his cookie at the back of Sirius's head before taking Lily's hand and pulling her out of the chair and toward the door to the spiral staircase leading to the boy's dormitory. The lion of jealousy inside James swelled. He downed a good portion of one of the bottles he was holding and stormed out of the portrait hole. And he remembered nothing after.

Breakfast the next morning had Sirius with his head flat on the table in the Great Hall. Remus sat next to him, patting his back softly. Lily sat across from Remus, nose deep in 'Advanced Potion Making', occasionally making small annotations in it, as though correcting it.

"Had to have been Marlene. It was Marlene, right?" Sirius was obsessing. His talk about Patronuses and true love had greatly taken a toll on the way he treated his relationship with Marlene. Normally, he wouldn't care what happened at a party, but today he was. Remus was right, if he wanted to keep her, he'd have to prove it to her. Not that Marlene had her eye on anyone but Sirius. James stumbled into the Great Hall at that point, down the aisle, and sat down next to Lily, who he didn't appear to notice.

"The hell happened last night?" he whined. Lily scoffed. James took a look at the person next to him, and then he did a double take, his hand flying to mess up his hair, as though it wasn't already the messiest it had ever looked. Lily scoffed again, rolled her eyes, and got up to move down the table.

"And James has douchebag hair," Sirius said again. "Never going to get her with that untamable monstrosity." The post came just then, and James's owl dropped him a letter before rendezvousing back to the Owlery. James opened it, turned slightly grayer than he had been, put the letter in his pocket, and left the Great Hall without eating. Before his best friends could puzzle over this, Marlene came sauntering up to them, blowing a kiss at Sirius and winking, before continuing down the table to sit with Lily.

"I'd say that it's safe to say it was Marlene," Remus said, patting his friend on the back. "Are you really serious about her?"

"Of course I am," Sirius said. "I'm Sirius!"

"That joke is older than you are," Remus said. "Please, let's just…"

"Be Sirius?"

"Oh, shut up."


	11. Chapter 11

For the first time, James elected to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays. The others were surprised, but learned not to question after James flipped on Peter. Peter had to go home as usual, but the other two elected to stay with James. Eventually, James decided on the story that the full was during the holidays and he would stay to support Remus, but Remus knew this wasn't in the least bit true. James had barely talked to Remus for a month and a half, since the Quidditch match. Remus knew full well why and he deserved it. Sirius kept pressuring him to make a move on Lily, but Remus stood steadfast at no. Being friends was bad enough to his position within the Marauders.

"You'll always be my friend," Sirius said. "Even if you put the moves on Marlene."

"Thank you? James is a little more insane than you, though, you big loveable puppy." Sirius was once again in his animagus form. "Fetch?" Sirius wagged his tail happily and barked. Remus smiled and conjured a ball for Sirius to fetch. He loved to run around in the snow. "So you and Marlene are going to Slughorn's Christmas Party together, then." Sirius barked and nodded in the affirmative. Sirius was always issued an invitation to the meeting of the Slug Club, pureblood family and whatnot, though he rarely attended. "Lily asked me to go with her." A sound came from Sirius as though he was trying to laugh. "I said yes." He sat down at the base of a tree on the edge of the forest and threw Sirius's ball again for him. "I guess James will be going stag. Figuratively, I hope he doesn't show up as an actual stag. Unless he brings Peter." Sirius tripped over his own feet dashing back to Remus with his ball and started emitting strange noises that turned into laughter as he became human once more, rolling in the snow.

"Oh, Merlin, I needed that," Sirius said, still laughing as he walked over to sit next to Remus. Peter was the only Marauder not in the Slug Club, and no one blamed Slughorn for this at all. Remus lazily erased all Sirius's pawprints with a flick of his wand.

"What are you gonna do after school?" Remus asked Sirius. Sirius shrugged.

"Join the Order, you know that," Sirius replied.

"After that. Suppose we actually do it, suppose we defeat Voldemort," Remus said. "Suppose it's 10 years from now, and we actually do it. Then what?"

"I don't know," Sirius admitted. "I haven't thought about it. I guess if Voldemort's gone then we wouldn't need an Order."

"If I go to Slughorn's Party with Lily, James will never speak to me again," Remus said, changing the subject drastically, as he was prone to do.

"Good for him," Sirius said.

"He'll kick me out and won't let me be a Marauder anymore," Remus said, voicing his fears.

"Don't be stupid," Sirius said. "Prongs isn't our leader, mate, and you'll always be a marauder."

"He might kill me," Remus mused, putting a finger up thoughtfully. "I could be a marauder if I was dead, right?"

"What part of 'Always' aren't you getting?" Sirius asked, using his wand to create a little fire between them in the snow. Physics be damned.

"I guess I'm still not used to having as good a friend as you," Remus said. "And Lils. Even if James doesn't marry her, she's definitely going to be part of our group."

"Well, if you're going to give Lily to James, you'll need someone else," Sirius said, sinking back into the tree they were leaning against thoughtfully. "How about Marlene's little sister?"

"No way," Remus said.

"What's wrong with her? I mean, she's a Ravenclaw, but other than that!"

"There's nothing wrong with her being a Ravenclaw," Remus said. "I just don't see myself with anyone in the future."

"You're just going to get old, play third wheel, and sing ABBA songs to my cousins?" Sirius asked.

"Yep," Remus replied. He looked into the sky. The moon was visible over the lake, though it was only late afternoon. It was getting fuller again. "I'm not safe anyway."

"Your choice, mate," Sirius conceded, knowing at this point that it was futile to argue.

* * *

><p>Lily looked amazing in her dress. It was a Christmas-y red, in just the right shade so it didn't clash too horribly with her hair.<p>

"Ohh, I'm regretting my decision not to go…." James seethed to Peter. Peter's brow was furrowed in concentration on the chess game they were playing. Remus and Lily disappeared out the portrait hole, followed by Sirius and Marlene. A tap on his shoulder as Peter declared "Bishop to G7". James looked around before spotting Emmeline, she looked stunning.

"Last chance," she said. James looked at her, then back to Peter, and then out the window. Immediately, James jumped up and started sprinting to his dormitory to change into his dress robes. 5 minutes later, James was back. He absently shouted, "Queen to G7, checkmate," to Peter as a goodbye and then he and Emmeline were gone.

"Damn it," Peter exclaimed.

* * *

><p>The party itself was uneventful. Lily and Remus ended up leaving early because James was so annoying. At one point he had stolen the microphone from the band and begun singing the only song he knew – Lily's song.<p>

"Excuse me. I'd just like to sing this song I wrong about this girl I love. She's here tonight. Evans, this is for you." Lily had turned bright red to match her hair and dress. "You're tall and fun and pretty, you're really, really skinny… Lily! I'm the Mickey to your Minnie, the Tigger to your Winnie… Lily! Wanna take you to the city, wanna take you out to dinny… Lily! You're cuter than a guinea pig… I wanna take you up to Winnipeg, THAT'S IN CANADA! –" At this point Sirius had pulled him off the stage. In the back corner of the room, Severus Snape muttered something about how there would Always be guys like Potter to Lucius Malfoy, now an important figure in the Ministry, personal guest of Slughorn. But don't worry, this story isn't about them. Shortly after this, Lily and Remus slipped out to a deserted corridor in the far East wing of the castle that had a picturesque window with a bench in it. They sat, looking out at the snow falling on the grounds.

"He's vile," Lily was saying. "I know he's your friend and all, but I still wonder why?" Remus mulled his answer carefully.

"He, and Sirius, and Peter, but mostly James and Sirius, well and also Peter… the four of us share something… unique. We call ourselves the Marauders. And… they were my best friends. My only friends," he said, his eyes darting to the three quarter moon overhead.

"Were?" Lily asked, curiously, also watching the moon.

"Until you came along," Remus said, tearing his eyes from the moon to look at Lily. She turned slightly pink and smiled.

"You're my best friend too," she said to him. "I don't know what I'd have done with myself this year without you."

"Me neither," Remus said. "I'd be failing Potions if you hadn't helped me."

"I really don't know why they let that book be published," Lily said, "with so many errors in it."

"I really thought James would have murdered me before now. He'd do anything to be with you."

"Start with a hairbrush," Lily said, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

"We have discussed the state of his hair at length," Remus said. "He's very attached to it."

"I'll miss you during the holidays," Lily said, with a poor attempt at changing the subject.

"Yeah… I'll miss you too, Lils," Remus said.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Tell me whatchu think? 3**

**Love, Samantha**


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